For those of you who don’t know Christine van Warmerdam… well, she swam with my son, Dylan, the Oakville Aquatic Club for years… and was “pretty good”. Now I mean this in the best way, but she wasn’t one of the many superstars that OAK has had over the years, she was just “pretty good”… at least in the world of competitive swimming. In the real world she was still a great swimmer… and apparently when you transfer that over into triathlon… she’s a great swimmer there too! Anyway, that’s where I got to know her, as one of those little kids running around on the deck.
But then she went off to university… to get an Engineering degree… and that flew by… and before I knew it I was sharing a lane with her at Burlington Masters Swim Club! Then a bunch of the BMSC gang decided to do IM Lake Placid this summer… Ben, Mel, Stacey, Jason and Christine (sorry if I forgot anyone else!).
It was pretty cool, Ben’s first since his big accident and he did really well… 10:50. Mel pulled out because the torrential rain made it really unsafe after they cut the swim short because of lightning! There were tons of wipe outs on the bike! Jason was amazing… 12:25… as was Stacey… 12:32! And this was just Christine’s first Ironman so I think she, like most first-timers, would have been glad just to finish.
But obviously I didn’t know how good of a biker or runner she is too! She won her age group (20-24), outright… in 10:31!!!
So she did the incredible… qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona on her first try! Wow.
I haven’t heard how Kona went yesterday but here are her results!
Congrats Christine!!!
Cheers,
Rob